APBA Game 12

Just finished game 12 of my APBA season. It was the type of game that would cause 500 reply postgame threads, server overload and a complete crash-and-burn on WSI were it a real game.

The 1936 Sox took the early 2-0 lead, but Boston answered right back to make it 2-2. The White Sox eventually made it 6-3. Zeke Bonura was in fine form with two 2 RBI hits. John Whitehead (what a name. Just hearing it brings back painful memories of adolesence) pitched well for the Sox. Boston chipped away to make it 6-5, but the Sox made it 8-5. Boston made it 8-6 and that is how we went into the bottom of the 9th.

The first batter, Bill Werber, grounded out, Appling to Bonura. Doc Cramer whacked a double to give Boston hope, but Heinie Manush popped out to Appling to bring the final hope for Boston to the plate in the form of Jimmie Foxx. The slugging Foxx had already struck out three times and figured to be no problem. He stepped into a Whitehead pitch and...

BLAM!!! No doubt about it! A two run homer to tie the score. The next batter, Don McNair popped Whitehead for a double, and that was it for the Chisox starter. White Sox fans will not greet Jimmie Dykes with huzzahs and cheers upon their return to Mr. Comiskey's double-decked domain should Mr. Dykes continue to leave his starters out on the slab for one enemy batter too many.

Italo Chelini, who in 1936 seems destined to become the pride and joy of San Francisco's Italian-American population, relieved the shaken Whitehead and faced only one batter-Mel Almada, who bounced a double off the wall. Mr. McNair crossed the dish to the loud cheers of the Fenway partisans who were all but heading for the exits, discussing tonight's upcoming episode of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. The Boston Nine sent them home to their radios in jovial spirits.

As for Dykes's boys, it is the second defeat at the hands of Boston this year. Their record drops to 7-5 as they head into the Bronx Cathedral known as Yankee Stadium for a two game set with the Bombers. Amongst the new freshmen dotting the league this season is Yankee centerfielder Joe DiMaggio, like Italo Chelini a native of San Francisco. Unlike Chelini, young DiMaggio has yet to live up to the ridiculous hype that accompanied his purchase from the PCL San Francisco Seals. It stands to reason that the Seals may have foisted a lemon upon the unsuspecting Yanks. Take the word of an expert sportswriter like myself, young DiMaggio will go nowhere in life.